Rev. George Miller
November 4, 2018
2 Kings 5:1-15
What would you be willing to do to be a better, healthier you?
Would you be willing to cut 500 calories a day from your diet?
Would you be willing to go to the gym 3-5 times a week?
Would you be willing to travel 125 miles by foot or by horse?
Would you be willing to dip yourself 7 times into a dried up river full of algae and dead fish?
Would you be willing to take advice from a little girl from a foreign country who believes in a completely different god?
What would you be willing to do to be a better, healthier you?
That is just one of the many questions raised by today’s story.
It is a timeless story, one that speaks through multi-dimensions, and a story that Jesus referred to in his first post-temptation sermon.
A quick review- today’s tale takes place in the foreign land of Aram after they have recently defeated the Israelites in battle.
One of Aram’s warriors, named Naaman, has taken a little Jewish girl as a slave. One day this little girl says to Naaman’s wife “Your husband is in pretty bad health. If he went to see my God’s prophet, I know he’d be healed.”
A chain of events takes place in which Naaman goes to his king, who sends him to the enemy king.
Neither king is of any use, but the Jewish prophet Elisha intervenes and has his message-boy tell Naaman to wade in the waters of the Jordan.
Mighty warrior Naaman has a hissy fit, but after some coaxing from his employees, his dips himself into the Jordan and bing-bam-boom!, he’s made clean.
What a wonderful, rich story we have before us, full of exotic lands, complex characters, and a mighty miracle of God.
But if we take a step back and look at this story as a whole, we discover how we’ve been tricked, because nothing is as it seems.
First, we have a story full of all these power players.
Naaman, the mighty warrior prone to angry outbursts who seems to have it all: money, power, wife and servants.
We have not one but two kings who hold court, have unlimited resources, and own enough clothes to rip at whim.
Then there’s Elisha who can come and go as he pleases, capturing the attention of world leaders with a single message or seemingly silly directive.
But are they truly the power players in this tale of God’s mercy and might?
No, they’re not. Look closer at who the real power players are: a little Jewish girl who’s been captured and became a slave.
Messengers of the prophet who come before a king and stand before a warrior to tell them what to do.
And foreign servants who convince their highly emotional master what’s the right thing to do if he wants to be made well.
The author of today’s story has created such a magnificent account in which it is not the people in power who are avenues for God’s grace, but it is the least of these, the unexpected, the often unseen and unheard members of society.
The heroes of today’s story are the ones we have kept in cages, attacked in synagogues, and labeled as invaders.
What we see in this ancient, ancient story is just how much God will use the least of these to do the blessings, how even enemies are recipients of God’s healing, and how God’s grace continues to grow and expand, crossing borders, beliefs, and bad situations.
We saw that grace when God looked down upon Noah’s family huddled within the ark and remembered them.
We saw that grace continue to Sarah and Abraham as they traveled for decades across that land.
We saw that grace carry Joseph through years of false imprisonment, growing to include the Israelites as they crossed the Red Sea.
That gift of grace continued with Moses on the mountain, Joshua in the Promised Land, and King Solomon as he humbly sought out wisdom.
In today’s reading we witness how God’s grace and mercy, God’s love for all expands beyond the borders and includes those who are considered enemies and those who have yet to know the Lord.
Oh how God brings healing and good news! A little girl; the least of these; a slave. The absolute lowest of the low who looks at her captors and says “There is a balm that can heal your soul.”
Unnamed messengers who take the good news out to highways and byways so someone they don’t even know can experience salvation.
Servants from another land who endure their master’s wrath just so they can convince him that it’s worth giving God a try even if it seems silly to take a dip into the waters of life.
Who would ever think that these characters, these individuals could be the agents of change and the ways in which God would work?
And then there is Naaman, who appears mighty, but is perhaps the weakest of them all.
When the story starts out he is a foreign enemy who worships a different god and is riddled with disease.
But note how he is transformed by God and a poster boy for what God’s grace can do.
He goes from unclean to clean, from outsider to a member of the worship community.
He goes from non-believer to someone who believes, someone who wants to donate, wants to worship, and even wishes for forgiveness for all the future sins he is sure to do.
Today we witness the ever expanding reach of God’s Kingdom.
We see how something begun on an ark and continued with an elderly couple has expanded beyond pharaohs and parted seas and promised lands, growing beyond anyone’s wildest imagination, to include-
enemies, foreigners, and disease.
No wonder Jesus would refer to this story in Luke 4 when he gave his first post-temptation sermon, reminding the people that God’s healing is offered to all, even those who are not like us.
No wonder why the people of Jesus’ day did not like being reminded of this truth.
It is a shame that these very same issues Jesus and 2 Kings addressed are still plaguing us in modern times.
But for today…today we have a chance in the sanctity of this holy space and this holy time to revisit this story, to embrace this tale and to celebrate it and what it dares to teach:
That the grace of God is ever growing.
The grace of God is a gift that only needs to be received.
It does not matter how old or young you are. No matter how rich or poor. No matter if master or servant, king of the country or foreign resident.
The grace of God is transformative, offering healing to individuals, families and to entire communities when it is accepted, and when it is glorified.
The waters of heaven are abundant and the healing of God is for all.
Amen and amen.
A UCC Pastor's walk through the spiritual waters of Scripture, pop culture and life.
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